Jan 27, 2017Project Syndicate
In his first week in office, US President Donald Trump has begun wreaking havoc on the post-1945 world. Joschka Fischer, Nina Khrushcheva, Joseph Nye, and other Project Syndicate contributors navigate the emerging international disorder.

Despite PM Lee Hsien Loong agreeing to forego a salary increase for some years after 2007, the level of Singaporean Ministerial Salaries after the 2007 revision was so high that it never achieved public acceptance or approbation, and had to be reviewed as once of the the FIRST acts of the Government after the 2011 General Election ... It is therefore hardly counts as a good example of effective political communication.

Just one thing to remember. Trump's apparent "effectiveness" as a communicator during the election is taken in light of the extreme negatives for both him and Clinton. If he were running against almost anyone else, we wouldn't be talking about this.

And Twitter is going to be the undoing of this country. It is a medium *specifically* designed to reduce all things to the information content of a mailing address on an envelope.

Trump's "political communication skills" have proven successful in a society where public debate is driven by appeals to emotion above reason and the prevalence of low intellectual standards among those seeking public office. After Obama and his intellectual acumen, the question that arises is - where do we go from here?

There's a huge hole in all this discussion of Trump and his "skills". Namely his obvious mental illness. He is most clearly a malignant narcissist with sociopath tendencies and openly displayes this constantly. It's misleading to a fault to describe many of his actions as some sort of carefully planned and executed "communication". There's an old adage that posits: If you're trying to deal with a seriously mentally ill person rationally, you don't understand the problem. That fits here like a finely tailored suit. I'd say the emperor has no clothes on (so to speak). The 25th amendment was designed for moments like this.

Do you remember that during 2016 year, a group of psychiatrists and psychologists from well known universities of USA and UK wrote a letter to President Obama to do something about this behaviour of Trump?

No American psychiatrist dare express an opinion that is critical of Trump's mindset. It can be dangerous in one's career . It is better to remain silent!

The "Usa" state like the Turk Osman Empire. It also had many oppressed people of various nations. The black people of Africa, the european slavic people and native people of Asia minor. A lot of people of non islamic religion. But the turks was the main people of Osman empire. The turks used that oppressed people in many wars. They used them dirty, clever. They turned them to Islamic religion. They force them believe the Osman Empire was Exceptional.
The Russians destroyd Osmans, as usual they did.

You are certainly entitled to your prejudices, but "the dark arts" have always specialized in providing exceptionally simple answers to exceptionally simple people, no matter how complex the question. And the one thing that government by tweet manifests, if nothing else, is simplicity -- every problem solved in 140 characters or less.

"He is one of us guys" image has worked so far in America. But it will change when high expectations and euphoria of Trumpies and his voters evaporate in the next two years. Manufacturing jobs that are lost to nations abroad can not be brought back where production cost is ten times higher in USA. Disillusion will set in and bumper sticker slogans used by Trump won't work. No point in getting anxious and panicky . I think, institutional checks are working well so far in containing Trumpies.

Nye is saying that Trump has stuck to his guns. He continues to say the same things in the same way despite the great change in his political fortunes. He is consistent.
Surely, all 'great communicators' have done the same thing? Consistency is what makes a person credible. Credibility is a sine qua non in striking deals.
No drama Obama's message was 'we can'. Trump's was 'I will'. Obama's inauguration speech attributed the power to change things not to the Presidency or any other political office. Rather it was some occult Emersonian 'Race-Fate' which translated the blind sacrifices of the masses- for whom Khe Sahn was morally the same as Gettysburg- into...urm...something or the other. Maybe Progress? Anyway, Obama had absolved himself of blame in advance. Only the people could affect change. He himself had no special power.
The problem with Obama's message was it did not distinguish between 'the People' and 'Americans'. His was a deracinated message. He really hadn't been born in the continental United States. He might as well have been born in Kenya. His cool and detached style coupled with a wonkish mastery of electoral strategy meant that he could reign not rule. Splashback from the Tea Party became his second tsunami of votes precisely because he himself was not making waves.
What worked for Obama couldn't work for Hilary. She couldn't carry even her own demographic and splashback was no longer enough. Why? Trump was saying- 'You can't but I will and, folks, it will be awesome'.
The odd thing is, now he is President, people suddenly realise that he really can make things awesome. More importantly, he is now saying anything which stands in his way is worthless and can be easily bulldozed. This too is true. The Judiciary can be brought to heel, the Bureaucracy rendered pliant, provided the Executive sticks to its guns and this translates into pressure on Legislators.
Nye speaks of a 'center' but politics is multidimensional and thus, by McKelvey's theorem, agenda control is what defines the median. Trump is successfully asserting agenda control with Tweets and phone calls. This is economical, this is effective, this is consistent, this is credible. Will he make awesome deals? I don't know. But if the perception is that he is doing so, then he will be stronger and more in charge of his party in a year's time than Reagan or Clinton at similar points in their Presidency.

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